lewis



(No Model.)

R. H. LEWIS & S. MOOLOUD.

NAIL.

No. 394,866. Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

STATES PATENT FFIQE.

NAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,866, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed October 13, 1888. Serial 110,288,033. (No model.)

I 0 aZZ 20710772, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ROBERT ll. LEWIS and SIDNEY MCULOUD, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nails, of which we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our present invention has relation particularly to that class of nails cut from nail-plates of iron or steel, and commonly known to the trade as cut nails, in contradistinction to wire, wrought, and drawn nails. In the manufacture of cut nails it has long been the common practice to form the body of the nail of gradually-tapering shape from head to point, the point being approximately square and blunt. One advantage of this class of nails is that they can be very cheaply made, and another advantage is that by reason of the slightly-roughened surface incident to the process of manufacture they afford a better bearing-face, and consequently greater holding-power, than do the wire, wrought, or drawn nails, in which the surface is much more smooth. An objection, however, incident to the cut nails as heretofore manufactured is that by reason of the bluntness of the point the fibers of the wood are so torn and broken as the nail is driven therein that they do not serve in the most effective manner to bind against the surface of the nail and prcventits being withdrawn, and a further disadvantage is that by reason of the tapering sides the nail is much more readily withdrawn from the wood, and consequently does not possess the desired degree of holding-power.

Our presentinvention has for its object to overcome the dismlvantages incident to cut nails as heretofore manufactured; and to accomplish this object we form the nail with a sharp or chisel-like point, that will serve to cut and bend the fibers of the wood withoutbreaking the same, as with the old form of nail; and in order to give a greater holding-power to the nail we form its opposite sides parallel from a slight distance above its sharpened point to the drawin a considerable distance therefrom. In practice, also, we prefer to form a portion of the body of the nail adjacent its head approximately round or with rounded corners, in order to give thereto a greater holding-power.

\Vith these objects in view our invention consists in the novel construction hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 represents the old and wellknown style of nail, this nail being shown as driven into a piece of wood for the purpose of illustrating the effect upon the fibers of the wood. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating our improved form of nail. Fig. 3 is a view in crosssectien on line 3 b of Fig. Fig. 4 is a view in cross-section on the several lines 4: 4: of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a view in transverse section on line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

A designates that part of the body of the nail which is formed with parallel opposite sides, (as more particularly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings) this parallel-sided portion of the body of the nail extending to a slight distance from its point, which is formed by flattening two of the sides, as shown in Fig. 2. of B y thus flattening two of the opposite sides of the nail a sharp or chisellike point is given thereto, which readily passes through the wood by cutting, separating, and deflecting the fibers thereof slightly downward, these fibers, by reason of their elasticity, bearing compactly on the sides of the nail, so as to firmly hold it within the wood. As each of the sides of the nail above the sharpened or chisel point is parallel with the side opposite, and as an incident of the manufacture (being cut from a blank) the sides are more or less rough, itis plain that the fibers thus cut and deflected by the point of the nail will bear much more firmly and tightly against the face of the nail than would occur if the fibers had been broken by a nail having a blunt point, as with the old style of nail illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Moreover, as all the sides of the nail are parallel to the sides opposite, so that the body is of uniform size for a considerable distance, instead of being taperi n or wedge-shaped, as in the prior construction, it is plain that the fibers will exert a much greater hol din g-power upon the sides of the nail than would occur with such old wedge-shaped form. Moreover, by giving a chisel-point to the nail it can. be more readily driven into hard wood without danger of bending, and conse( uently the body of the nail can be made lighter and with a greater number to the pound than with cut nails of ordinary construction. \Yeprel'cr to form the upper portion, A, of the nail of a round or a'tpproxiniately round contour, the object in thus forming the nail being to enable the fibers oi the wood to more tightly bind against the surface, and consequently 11'101'0 firmly hold the nail against danger of withdrawal, and it is obvious that when. the

rounded upper portion of the nail has entered into the wood the cut and deflected tillers will lend to close around the body of the nail, and thus hold the Hl lllt) more tightly than it the flat parallel sides were continued to the head.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure byLctters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of inai'lulacture; a cut nail ln'iving all of its opposite sides parallel and provided with a sharpened or chisel-like point, substantially as described.

As a new article of manufacture, a cut nail having that portion immediately beneath the head of round or approximately round shape, and havinga portion of itsbody below said rounded portionprovided with each of its sides parallel to the o 'iposite side, and having a sharpened or chisel point, substantially as descril'ied.

ROBT. ll. LEWIS. SIDN'E Y hJICULOUl). Witnesses:

Gee. I. Fisnnn, In, 1. 1-3. CARPENTER. 

